Hampton Roads businesses jump on 3-D printing bandwagon

Attention grabber? Doohickey-maker? Rapid prototyping machine? The hype continues on how 3-D printers will revolutionize the way we make and buy products, but what can they do for Hampton Roads businesses?

That's what Navy veterans Dave Kern and Matt Phaneuf intend to find out. They launched Whee Make It LLC in January to rent six small desktop 3-D printers to businesses and individuals on a weekly basis or longer. The Virginia Beach firm is a subsidiary of Kern Technology Group, which specializes in helping develop Navy technologies.

"Our business model is based on the idea that we don't know what people are going to use 3-D printers for, but we think they're important," Kern said.

The $1,300 printers are simple robots that melt plastic layer by layer into a 3-D object. Whee Make It offers $20 an hour classes on both 3-D printing and design in addition to consulting services. The business concept was created as a way to promote the technology but now the firm would like to work with local businesses in finding ways to use 3-D printers. Whee Make It also sells rolls of plastic filament used to supply the printers.

Growing 3-D printing popularity and money

Consumers can buy these machines as cheap as $500 online. Home Depot began selling MakerBot machines in select stores last week. The availability of these types of 3-D printers for hobbyists and do-it-yourselfers have helped garner attention to 3-D printing, which isn't new. The machines were first commercialized in 1988, said Terry Wohlers, an analyst who has been reporting annually on the industry for 19 years. He points out there is a vast difference between the quality, color and surface finish of home 3-D printers and the more expensive machines for industrial use.

Traditionally used as a prototyping tool, 3-D printing reached a tipping point in the third quarter of 2012 as large manufacturers like General Electric, Boeing, Airbus and medical companies began making investments toward using the machines for actual production, Wohlers said. He said the White House also lit a fire under other countries to invest in programs when it launched a series of innovation initiatives to advance the industry.

Last year, 3-D printing was a $3.1 billion industry with global revenue growth of 35 percent, according to Wohler's data. By 2020, he conservatively forecasts it'll be a $21 billion industry.

And that's what Nick Liverman, founder of Old World Laboratories at 3301 B N. Military Highway in Norfolk, is banking on.

"It will create a lot of new businesses and a lot of jobs in Hampton Roads, as well as everywhere else," Liverman.

Liverman, a hobby robot-maker who took and crashed plenty of science and engineering courses at various colleges, began toying with commercially available 3-D printers about five years ago, but found them lacking. Essentially, they're "computer controlled hot glue guns," he said. So, he began building different versions of his own and started a business from a Virginia Beach storage unit in 2012.

Manufacturing 3-D printers in Hampton Roads

Old World Labs plans on announcing sales of its desktop OWL Nano 3-D printers, which uses a laser beam to harden liquid resin for better precision and smoother surfaces, during the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. OWL plans to selectively sell 1,000 printers over the next year as the firm of seven employees can customize or tweak printers for customers. Local undisclosed businesses, including jewelers and medical labs in the dental arena, started trying them out this summer, he said. Dental offices could use them to print crowns and bridges customized for patients. Surgeons could print a model of a person's heart to practice before surgery, Liverman said.

Eventually, Liverman anticipates needing to expand as he projects demand could reach 10,000 printers a year. But that can be challenging as OWL has had trouble finding employees, particularly software, mechanical and chemical engineers, he said. Additionally, Liverman would like to source materials and machine shop services locally.

Demand for customization

Whee Make It got its start when Kern couldn't find a replacement plastic bracket to hold back his drapes. That gave him an excuse to buy a $600 3-D printer that allowed him to make the plastic piece in his garage, after Phaneuf designed it digitally.

Kern envisions that businesses will use them to develop prototypes from a design before outsourcing production to a manufacturer. Additionally, 3-D printing could be better for personalized items, like a customized trophy or bobble head, he said.